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Phil Dunphy
Introduction Phil Dunphy (played by Ty Burrell) is the head of the Dunphy household, 16 years husband to Claire Dunphy, and father to Luke, Haley and Alex Dunphy. He is a real estate agent, working for Horizon Realty, and is seen to be very competitive regarding this. His rival in the field seems to be Gil Thorpe, who was said to have beaten Phil as 'Salesman of the Quarter' for seven quarters in a row. Phil's role model in the realty world seems to be Skip Woosnam, who has yet to make an appearance on the show. Outside the world of work, his interests include golf, technology and close-up magic. Other activities which he takes part in include power-walking, which he does every morning, and coaching football. He is shown to suffer from Coulrophobia - an irrational fear of clowns, perhaps due to the fact that he once discovered a dead clown in the woods as a child, according to his mother. Phil is often depicted as the 'fun parent', compared to Claire, whose role is normally that of the 'bad cop'. Furthermore, he is extremely child-like, and is even jokingly referred to by Claire as one of her kids. Despite this, Phil represents the epitomy of emotional maturity and morality within the show. This is displayed by his acceptance of Jay's role in the extended family, his capacity to forgive (Claire, mainly) and the lack of conflict between him and other members of the extended family. He openly compliments others, often calling Mitchell and Cameron 'classy' and is shown to be very non-judgmental. Personality NoThanks cuz Phil is shown to be a very child-like character, with a similar sense of humour to Luke. Due to this, they are often seen playing together, both enjoying themselves, which is rare in a such parent-child scenario. Phil is also rather immature, though in more a positive sense than the word suggests. He often giggles at the mention of Mrs Passwater's name, Luke's math teacher, and becomes amused when Alex curses. This immaturity doesn't stretch further than that however, as Phil does not laugh at the expense of others, unlike Claire, Mitchell and Jay. Phil's child-like nature is also shown by his innocence. He is often shown to lack the ability to understand social norms, such as when he openly asks whether Lily's name would be hard for her to pronounce, given her Asian heritage. He is also unaware of sexual innuendos which he sometimes makes, shows by his description of himself as "no straight guy". Phil's obvious physical attraction to Gloria is also down to his child-like mind, and it must be noted that this attraction is more similar to a child being drawn to a shiny object, rather than a married man being unfaithful to his wife. Amongst other personality traits is Phil's short attention span, similar to that of his son, Luke. He often abandons one task for another and can go off-track in a conversation, such as when he takes more interest in a joke Luke tells, rather than what Luke did while he was out of the house, which is what the conversation was initially about. He also has a slight disregard for personal safety, noticed by Claire during a description given by Alex about ADHD.